There are only two grand
"studio" buildings that face Central Park: this one
and the Gainsborough on Central Park South.

The Gainsborough has a much
lovelier façade than this 15-story, brown-brick building,
which was erected in 1918 and is a cooperative with 69 apartments.

This building is rather
deceptive as its frontage on the park indicates that it only has
only 11 floors, four with double-height windows, but its side-street
façade has double-height windows only at its corners. The
building's cornice, interestingly, is two stories from its top.
The building's simple, canopied entrance with a limestone surround
is on the sidestreet, which has several other pre-war "studio"
buildings, including the Des Artistes, across the street, as well
as several ABC-TV facilities.

The building is across from
the entrance to the Tavern-on-the-Green Restaurant in Central
Park, which illuminates its trees at night.

The building has a doorman,
sidewalk landscaping, and protruding air-conditioners, but no
balconies, no garage, no health club, and no roof deck. It has
inconsistent fenestration.

There is excellent public
transportation nearby and the Lincoln Center for the Performing
Arts and many restaurants and stores are also nearby.

In his fine book, "New York Streetscapes,
Tales of Significant Buildings and Landmarks," (Harry N.
Abrams, Inc., 2003), Christopher Gray devotes a chapter to this
building and provides the following commentary:

"In 1916 the seventh artists studio on
West 67th Street, at 2 West 67th Street, turned a corner, both
onto Central Park West and beyond the realm of art. The painter
and illustrator Penrhyn Stanlaws had organized the Hotel des Artists
across the street the year before, and for 2 West 67th Street
he had the architects Rich and Mathesius design a building with
a pronounced arts-and-crafts-influence. They eliminated the usual
projecting cornice and finished the top of the building with simple
frieze of panels and delicately worked copper coping. They used
roughly textured brick on the façade and rendered it with
details that emphasize a handmade character. Delays with structural
steel - possibly related to the need for steel in World War I
- put off completion until 1919. Plans in the building varied
from floor to floor, but there were about two dozen duplex apartments
with double-height studios - 19 feet high - and an undetermined
number of regular apartments."

It may not be pretty, but it sure has some
great apartments and a great location.

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